A random search of LGBTQ history blogs about Paul Cadmus lead me strangely to this blog post about the AB101 Veto Riots in San Francisco in 1991, and then this documentary about the riot and the Bob Ostertag & Kronos Quartet piece based on it called ‘All the Rage’ – you can download the MP3. It’s a powerful reaction to homophobia and hatred, in my mind a similar vein to Reich’s ‘Different Trains’ and combating prejudice in a similar fashion. I recommend listening especially if you find yourself asking ‘why are they so angry?’ or why is gay rights protests still so important – even from within my own community – I think especially if you’re part of the LGBTQ community.
I also love the end part of excerpt from The Reach of Resonance documentary where Gerard Koskovich said:
‘At the time of the riot a lot of…gay activists* in town were very angry and very upset because they felt we had ruined any chance of this bill of ever passing. That of course no governor would ever sign it after gays had misbehaved so terribly and had demonstrated that we didn’t deserve our rights. Well that’s not how it worked out in fact…leading many of us to go around that week saying that it’s right to riot – ultimately queer people are not to be toyed with. We can be pushed to breaking point.“
(image from Three Dollar Bill zine)
Apart from being initially surprised anyone interested in LGBTQ history wouldn’t know the 1966 or White Night Riots (if not you should, it’s Gay History 101 at least in the US – I’m perfectly aware that UK gay history is much more incomplete, and regularly nag John about it), I didn’t know about this riot nor much about gay rights from that time…I guess the devastating effect of AIDS means that history hasn’t been written about so much, and although I knew some of what was going down in the UK like the Poll Tax Riots and the reaction to the first Gulf War, certainly pre-internet and being closeted limited my exposure to things like this.
(from White Night Riots – from foundsf.org)
Gay History like this needs to be preserved by those who survive, as with other histories and other scenes you cannot leave it to others to do so, because when everyone is dead it will be left to ‘professional’ historians, assimilationists* or even worse some professional gender or queer history ‘academics’* to pick over the pieces. (They’re usually like ‘diversity officers’ and about as clued in, well the ones I’ve met at gay history events were(n’t) anyway – also not sure how straight people can claim to have insight on queer history anyway?!?)
No, the history has to be told by those who were there, in their voices, loud, proud and clear.
* same thing. Quite a few activists seem to want assimilation, copying hetero-normative behaviours to legitimise those dirty queers, and criticise the radical. Sadly they’ll find they won’t be accepted by the ‘norm’ however they dress, act or copy. Mattachine and others found that out.
Not sure if there is a gay version of ‘Uncle Tom’ but maybe there needs to be. Partly my concern over the current paedo witchhunt is that as two of the people were ‘confirmed batchelors’, is that old whispering campaign is starting again? This time via the mantra of ‘long term stable relationships’ and ‘respectability’ of gay marriage? And if you don’t fit you must be a danger? Look at what happened to Kevin Clash aka Elmo for signs of that – and I refuse to link to that chipwrapper trash but Daily Mail’s muckraking in the lives of Kermit Love and Richard Hunt and others not here to defend themselves – not cool. And suggesting various things without actually saying them, codewords ‘flamboyant’ and ‘exotic’ and ‘big fat poof’ – oh maybe not the last one, they’d love to though.
Oh and for the record Daily Mail – gay men don’t shag each other on meeting like some handshake? Just thought you might like to know that.
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